Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 4, 2016 Lectionary 129 Readings: Wis 9:13-18b; Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17;Phmn 9-10, 12-17;Lk 14:25-33 The first reading from the Book of Wisdom contains many spiritual gems, in which we … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2016
Teaching Silently, Reaching the World Through a Hidden Life of Suffering
An Interview with Raymond Arroyo on Mother Angelica: Her Grand Silence
Even if you don’t watch Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), you have probably heard about Mother Angelica, the feisty Italian-American cloistered nun from Canton, Ohio, who in 1981, at the age of 58, launched, quite improbably, what t … [Read more...]
Transsexual attractions and sexual reassignment surgery
Risks and potential risks
Given the early age at which youth seek treatment for transsexual attractions (TSA) and gender dysphoria, and given the serious risks associated with such treatment, it is essential that family and youth be advised about these risks, and … [Read more...]
God’s Armor versus the Devil’s Stratagems
Spiritual Combat Revisited
Introduction To say that we are living in thoroughly trying times is unfortunately neither an exaggeration nor a platitude. We are witnessing the symmetrically opposite progression of falling ethical standards on the one hand, and rising … [Read more...]
Feminine Empathy in Two Daughters of Israel
On the feast of St. John of the Cross, 1934, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St. Edith Stein) highlighted the age-old battle between good and evil, sin and death: The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and an … [Read more...]
Holy Communion and the Importance of Marriage
As is now widely known, there have been calls from some high-ranking prelates, chief among them Cardinal Walter Kasper, to reconsider the Catholic Church's practice with regard to holy communion for Catholics who have validly married but … [Read more...]
Late Summer Reading
Unity in the Church or The Principle of Catholicism. By Johann Adam Möhler. (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1996). 487 pages. $34.95. ISBN: 978-0-8132-2876-1. Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Law. By J. Bu … [Read more...]
Homilies for August 2016
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time— August 7, 2016 Readings: Wis 18:6-9; Ps 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22; Heb 11:1-2, 8-19: Lk 12:32-48. We do a lot of moving around in a single day. We move from home, to work, to school, to the grocery st … [Read more...]
To Whom Shall We Go?
(“To whom shall we go?” John 6: 66-69)[1. “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’ Simeon Peter answered him, … [Read more...]
The Slant of Glory
“Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Glory be to the Father…” (Ps 126:1) (Introit from the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.) In America, the gravity of major weekend games, … [Read more...]
Amoris Laetitia, the Human Person, and the Meaning of Marital Indissolubility
Since the release of Pope Francis’s Post-Synodal Apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, on April 8, 2016, numerous articles and statements disagree as to whether the pope either has opened the possibility of admitting civilly divorced and r … [Read more...]
The Church Just Did for Movements What She Did for Religious in 1978, Only Better
The Church does not rush to judgement, but reflects and ponders clearly to ascertain what is God’s will. This can take years, even decades. Vatican II renewed many aspects of Catholic life: the sacramental character of a bishop’s con … [Read more...]
Sacramental Fruitfulness and the Power of Pentecost
It has become quite evident that there is something like a “sacramental crisis” occurring in the Church today, that Sr. Sara, in her opening remarks, referred to as “this extraordinarily critical moment.” I would like to briefly explore thre … [Read more...]
Summer Poetry
But Then I Met Jesus By David Barton I sought pleasure, but pleasure didn’t satisfy. I courted riches and they impoverished me, Fame and it degraded me, Power and it corrupted me. I gave myself to charitable causes, But, despite t … [Read more...]
Recent Comments